Medieval books were not always silent on the shelves of libraries, even in monasteries. These lectures explore the role of public reading in the lives of religious communities, tracing the occasions and locations of reading aloud in English monasteries during the Middle Ages. Dr Webber provides the first full study of public reading as a part of monastic life in this year's series of the Lyell Lectures, 'Public reading and its Books: Monastic ideals and practice in England, c.1000-c.1300'.

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19May

Reading at Collation: monastic ideals and the practice of public reading